


Shelter

by Woon



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Car Accident, Dangerous Situations, Gen, Hit by a car, Homeless Teen, Hospitals, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Other, Slight Panic, Theft, Underage Drinking, Violence, implied friendships, mention of x-rays
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2020-11-27 21:15:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20955008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Woon/pseuds/Woon
Summary: Harvey finds himself becoming a reluctant father-figure to a homeless teen.





	1. Roy

**Author's Note:**

> I put a mature rating because heavy topics like rape and child abuse/molestation are referenced/implied in Roy's past. I have no plans to write the acts but they will get referenced on occasion. In relation to how Roy is mistrustful of kind adults given how she has been treated in the past.

Roy hadn’t counted on getting spotted. She thought she was faster, but they caught her in the end. They were dragging her kicking and screaming, disarmed early on she didn’t have a fighting chance, she should have waited for Selina. But Roy wanted to impress her and now she was going to die or worse. “Shit!” Roy had been thrown against the wall, those leers. It didn’t matter if she was a girl or boy, they had that look, she recognized it from ‘Uncle Fred’. She’d avoided that nightmare and now it seemed it caught up to her. 

“Hey!” A loud booming voice. “GCPD!!!” They threw her down in their hurry to flee the scene. Shoes thudding against the paved alley running past where she had been thrown. The second pair of shoes was the first thing she saw, as she slowly looked up. Taking in the appearance of the man in front of her, probably in his forties. Beard, a hat and sympathetic eyes. The one who had yelled came jogging back, “they got away.” He was younger.

“You okay, kid?” He glanced at her then took his coat off, wrapping it around her. Roy realized that her clothes had been damaged in the struggle with those assholes. “Jim, go call it in.” No. They'll send her to juvenile services.

“I'm fine.” Roy tried to stand. The adrenaline rush of trying to fight had worn off leaving her feeling nauseous and exhausted, she ended up sitting back down. 

“You got someone you can call?” When Roy hesitated, the man with the beard nodded. “Do you want to report it?” He was giving her an out.

“It was a simple misunderstanding.” The look on his face said bullshit, but he shrugged before telling the blond guy with him to not call it in. That didn’t go over well, but he seemed to have won the argument.

“C’mon, kid. I got an old t-shirt in the car. You can have that until you get something better. Is there somewhere we can drop you?” Selina was already going to be pissed you went without her, no need to have the cops drop Roy off at Cat’s favorite hideaway. So she had them drop her off four blocks away at a rundown Laundromat. 

Roy watched as they pulled away, then glanced down at the shirt from the bearded cop. A faded green blob sat in the center of it, he said it used to be a shamrock. The shirt was over-sized but it covered up most of the damage to her clothing. Roy made her way to the back where the lost and found clothes were at, they were mostly forgotten clothes from the dryers. She found some promising pants and a halfway decent sweater she hid behind a row of washers and changed out of her damaged clothes quickly. Tossing the damaged things and the cop's shirt in the bin of left-behind clothes, she paused remembering to empty the pockets of her torn pants. She fished out the card from the cop, then stared at the shamrock blob, before taking the shirt back and slipping out the rear exit.

Roy glanced around to make sure no one was about before she climbed up on the nearest dumpster to get the fire escape ladder down. Up she went to the rooftop, a world unto itself differing from the chaos of Gotham’s streets, although bad things have been known to happen even up here. She sat down and let her thoughts wander for a bit. 

Jonathan’s face popped into her head. His smile the last time she saw him, before… she bit back a sob before his father messed him up. Jonathan said he was going to kiss her the next time he saw her. It would have been her first real kiss. He didn’t kiss her, she had to leave the room because he was screaming, Roy thought he was screaming at her, but the doctor assured her it was something else that he was screaming at. 

Tears were streaming down her face when she heard a familiar voice. “You went without me, Roy.” the unspoken word idiot implied in her tone. Selina plopped down next to Roy. “Were you successful?” 

Roy wiped away the tears with the cop’s shirt. “Define successful.”

“Oh, geez. You know they’ll redo their security set-up, Roy.”

“Good thing I got the cash then.” Roy grinned as Selina smacked her arm, “Had to hide it though since they spotted me.” She didn’t mention all the other stuff. “Lost my knife though.” 

“You mean this knife?” Selina pulled a knife out of her pocket. “I found it while I was looking for you, when I saw you get in the car with those cops I thought you were toast, then saw the direction they took, knew I’d find you here.”

Roy nearly hugged Selina, but thought better of it, “Thanks, Cat.”

“Next time, wait for me.” Roy nodded. “Let’s go get your prize money.” Once they were standing Selina gave her a quick hug. “Seriously, don’t do that again. They would have done more than just hurt you if they caught you.” Selina didn’t see the grimace on Roy’s face. Roy would have to remember not to let Selina see the bruise on her back from getting slammed against the wall. Sleeping was going to be a pain.


	2. Kid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harvey gets a call from Gotham General. Roy is less than enthused about spending any time around the detective.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me a bit to return to this fic. I am happy enough with this chapter.

"Hey, Bullock!" Alvarez hollered from his desk as Harvey passed by it, "You got a call while you were out."

"And?" Harvey stopped in his tracks like he was expecting Alvarez to spit the message out verbally.

"And I'm not your damn secretary," Alvarez frowned at him.

"Then don't answer my phone, jackass." Harvey was already heading to his desk he didn't see the other detective flip him the bird. Harvey plopped his hat down as he picked up the message written in Alvarez's pretty handwriting,  _ Kid hit by a car. The hospital found your card and called you.  _ "What kid?" He yelled over at Alvarez who shrugged. "Fuck." Harvey popped his hat back on and headed back out.

Key in the ignition, Harvey tried to think who would have his card, he rarely hands them out. The note specified kid so it wasn't an informant or that hot little number from last night. Harvey's thought was not my kid not my problem. He started the car anyway.

* * *

_ God, I hate hospitals.  _ No, he hated this particular hospital. Run by shady administrators. The nurse at the station blinked at him as he stated why he was there then it took about twenty minutes for them to figure out where this kid was, "Get your shit together," The detective grumbled as he walked past rooms until he found the one the nurse gave him.

Harvey walked in to see a young girl wearing his old shamrock shirt.  _ Oh, that kid.  _ She looked like she was about to yank out the IV thing, "Might want to rethink that action, kid. Not like in the movies. That shit hurts when you yank it out." He may also have done just that in the past, never again.

"Why are you here?" The girl decided not to mess with the thing on her hand. "Here to arrest me for putting a dent in that asshole's car?" 

"Hospital found my card in your things. I thought I was coming down to identify a dead body." Harvey pointed at the bed, "They're coming by to check on you."

"Told them I didn't want X-rays." 

They probably only offered because of her connection to a cop, Gotham General rarely helps the homeless. "And I didn't want to identify a dead kid so at least one of us is having a good day."

"I'm fine just some bruising and cuts." She crossed her arms stubbornly.

"I was told you were unconscious when they wheeled you in, kid."

"I fainted from malnutrition," Harvey shot her a look then nodded, it was plausible, a kid alone on the streets. Many of them don't know when they'll get their next meal. "Besides aren't they supposed to keep their yaps shut? Patient and Doctor privilege."

"Only works if you actually talk with a doctor." The kid frowned at him, "Look, your head hit the pavement, kid. You're getting the X-Ray," On my dime, he thought. 

* * *

"Just drop me off anywhere, detective." Harvey shook his head.

"I didn't pay that hospital bill just so you could scamper off to steal more hubcaps." 

Roy grimaced, his assumption about her activity prior to hospitalization wasn’t far off but she wasn’t going to confirm it to a cop, "I'll pay it back, just drop me off." There was an edge of panic in her tone. 

"In a hurry to get back out on the streets?” She didn’t respond, “Look I am going to drop you off at my place you can eat a meal, nap, shower, or take off if you want,” Harvey slowed the car as he neared his building, “or did you want me to drop you off at child services?”

“I’m not a homeless orphan, asshole.”

“Of course, you aren’t.” Harvey parked the car by the curb, “C'mon. I gotta get back to work, you’ll have the place to yourself after I let you in.” Roy eyed the man suspiciously, Harvey wasn’t offended about the lack of trust, this city is filled with creeps that prey on kids like her, he understood. “You don’t have to stay, just grab some food and bail if you want, kid.”

“Fine.” Her tone conveyed how much she hated this situation.

* * *

“Jesus. What a fucking shithole.” 

“Maybe. But the heat works.” Harvey chuckled. “There’s a clean towel in the cabinet there, leftover pizza in the fridge, don’t fucking touch my beer.” He closed the door after that parting shot and Roy looked about the man’s apartment. 

This dude definitely lives alone, she thought as she opened the fridge popping open the pizza box inside to see toppings she hates, “Just pick them off,” a free meal is a free meal. She kept glancing at the door half worried the detective would come back in, the last thing she wanted was to be trapped in this guy’s place.

Roy looked longingly at the shower as she took a swig from one of the beers she snagged from the fridge.  _ I could lock the door and open the window,  _ Roy made a face before she finally grabbed a washcloth from the cabinet it felt too risky for a full shower.

She took her time going through his apartment looking for possible things to pawn for some quick cash. He didn’t have much to swipe, not surprising given how the place looked. The only thing that she found worth stealing were some rings in his sock drawer, they were with a picture of the cop and a pretty redhead. Roy noticed the woman was wearing the rings and the cop looked happy, she rolled the rings around in her hand before a twinge of guilt hit Roy and she left them as she found them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> like it or love it, consider giving it a kudos maybe even leave a comment of encouragement or friendly criticism.

**Author's Note:**

> If you like this consider leaving a kudos. Maybe even check out some of my other writings while waiting for the next chapter.  
If you love it so far consider leaving a comment to let me know, sometimes a good comment goes a long way to inspire me to make more content.  
If you hated it well, there are many fics to choose from whether by me or other writers. I am positive you will find the fic you are wanting...


End file.
